This invention relates to spas, and more particularly to water jet aerators used in spas or tubs. The disclosure of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 549,663 is hereby incorporated by reference.
Previous aerators have had one of several types of manual flow control systems. The first type controls only the flow of water, while the air flow through the aerator remains on constantly. The second type controls both air and water flow simultaneously, and proportionally. The third type of aerator control allows independent adjustment of both air and water flow.
Typically, the air and water is introduced to the aerator through air and water inlets in the aerator housing. The valves which control air or water flow through their respective inlets consist of tubular sleeves rotatably threaded into the housing. The sleeves have radially positioned air and water ports. By rotating a sleeve relative to the aerator housing, the air and/or water inlets can be opened or closed by the alignment of the ports in the sleeve relative to the inlets in the housing, so the air and water flow can be turned on, off, or proportionally adjusted. In order to independently control air and water, a separate sleeve or valve is required for both the air and the water inlets, as shown in Reynoso (U.S. Pat. No. 4,335,854).
Alternatively, an inlet through the housing and a sleeve having an open end or axial port can be combined to form a needle valve to control air or water flow, as in Jacuzzi (U.S. Pat. No. 3,297,025).
To clamp the aerator to the wall of the tub or spa, a flanged bushing is generally attached to the aerator through a hole in the tub wall. The flange on the bushing thus protrudes into the tub. Additionally, the fluid control sleeves protrude beyond the bushing so that they can be manually rotated to adjust flow. Many aerators utilize swiveling, eyeball-type nozzles to direct the flow into the tub. These nozzles are surrounded by the sleeves, and in order to be manipulable through the end of the sleeve, the nozzles often protrude beyond the flanged bushing also.
These protruding members of the aerator are undesirable because they increase the risk of injury to a person who may slip and fall within the tub. The further the aerator protrudes from the tub wall, the more likely it is that a person will strike the aerator during a fall.
Further, previous aerator designs have been unsatisfactory for applications such as indoor tubs where the size of the aerator is reduced to compensate for space limitations, smaller air and water feed lines, and smaller diameter tub wall holes. As the aerators are reduced in size, there is a limit as to how small the nozzle and surrounding sleeves can be while still being large enough and accessible enough to be manipulable.
Moreover, public health regulations limit the volume of water which may be retained within an aerator after the tub has been drained. To comply with these regulations, it is advantageous to reduce the overall size of the aerator to correspondingly reduce the internal volume of the aerator in which water may be trapped.
Thus, a need exists for a water jet aerator which is capable of being reduced in size and which has manipulable fluid flow controls that do not protrude into the tub.